I am innocent. Stand with me and demand justice.

Pankaj Bhat · Resident, Building N-3, Empire Estate, Pimpri-Chinchwad

My name is Pankaj Bhat. For nearly ten years I have lived quietly in Empire Estate. I work from home, I keep to myself, and most of my neighbours know me as the man who is rarely seen without his cat — a companion I love dearly. I have never been the subject of a complaint by anyone here. I write today with a heavy heart, but with complete honesty, because my name is being damaged by claims that are simply untrue.

What happened. In the intervening night of 13–14 June 2026, while I was with my cat in a common area of our building — something I have done countless times — I was attacked, without any provocation. I was struck on the head and face, injured, and left dazed. I did everything a law-abiding person should do, and I did it at once: I called the police emergency line, 112; within the same hour I asked our society to preserve its CCTV; I went to Chinchwad Police Station and hand-wrote a detailed four-page complaint at around two in the morning; and by 3:58 a.m. I had emailed the Commissioner of Police directly. I have pursued only lawful remedies from the first minute.

The allegations against me are false — and here is my proof. I have not answered rumour with rumour. I have placed myself entirely in the hands of facts:

• My injuries are documented in an official Medico-Legal Case (MLC) and medical examination at YCM Hospital.
• I faced false allegations of a sexual nature concerning my pet — voluntarily disproven by a government veterinary examination of my cat at the Aundh Government Veterinary Hospital. The claim is, in any event, medically impossible. I will say no more about something so baseless than that the facts have already answered it.
• To the claim of "daily drugs and alcohol," I voluntarily submitted three months of hair samples for toxicology. I will be plain: I invite anyone who repeats these claims about me to take the very same test.
• And I wrote a lucid, coherent four-page legal complaint at two in the morning — something no intoxicated person could do.

The single most important fact: no FIR and no written complaint has ever been filed against me — by anyone. The person I have named in my police complaint was at the same station that morning and filed nothing. On the record, there is no case against me — only words.

What I am asking for is what any innocent person would want: a fair and impartial investigation; preservation of our society's CCTV (now certified); registration of an FIR as the law provides; and due process. Until the law has run its course, I ask only that judgment be reserved and that unproven claims not be forwarded. Many neighbours have privately told me they stand with me but are afraid to come forward; I understand that fear, and it is exactly why visible, lawful solidarity matters.

A false word, once spread, can do harm that no later truth fully undoes. I place my faith in due process — and in the fairness each of us would hope for in our own hour of need.

— Pankaj Bhat